Author Topic: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays  (Read 1562 times)

Scipio

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Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« on: July 31, 2017, 10:45:41 PM »

Just thought I'd ask the question The Harvester(formerly The Beacon) Great Barr boy oh boy how this pub has gone down the drain since becoming a Harvester in 1996/7










Regards John
If voting made any difference , they wouldn't let us do it.
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Phil

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2017, 11:41:14 PM »
Scipio

The thing is once a pub becomes part of a restaurant chain, the pub business becomes secondary to the restaurant. Most of the other places are just so called sports bars where everybody gathers around a oversized television screen and make a lot of noise, and then we have the plastic theme pubs. There are very few traditional pubs left in Birmingham and when drinking was still a full time hobby of mine I had already transferred to social clubs.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

RoyMcC

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2017, 06:32:30 PM »
Most of us of a certain age miss the traditional boozer. It's clear that it's no longer viable to run a bar on traditional lines - at least not unless it's owner-managed and the gaffer works damn hard at it. The younger ones no longer see the pub as a social centre. Times have changed and blokes don't gravitate towards the 'local' so much. Of course drink-driving and no smoking have all contributed.


You need the family food trade to turn over a place to keep it profitable. Even so we all know the attrition rate for pubs well-documented on this forum. When (rarely) in Brum these days I make a point of frequenting the Bradford Street pubs (Spotted Dog, Anchor, White Swan, Lamp) for fear that they'll be closed by the next time I visit.


Here in Jersey it's nigh impossible these days to find a quiet non-food, non-sports pub for a quiet beer.


On the plus side we're blessed with the quality and choice of ale these days.

Scipio

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2017, 09:04:02 PM »

Most of us of a certain age miss the traditional boozer. It's clear that it's no longer viable to run a bar on traditional lines - at least not unless it's owner-managed and the gaffer works damn hard at it. The younger ones no longer see the pub as a social centre. Times have changed and blokes don't gravitate towards the 'local' so much. Of course drink-driving and no smoking have all contributed.
You need the family food trade to turn over a place to keep it profitable. Even so we all know the attrition rate for pubs well-documented on this forum. When (rarely) in Brum these days I make a point of frequenting the Bradford Street pubs (Spotted Dog, Anchor, White Swan, Lamp) for fear that they'll be closed by the next time I visit.


Here in Jersey it's nigh impossible these days to find a quiet non-food, non-sports pub for a quiet beer.


On the plus side we're blessed with the quality and choice of ale these days.


I agree wholeheartedly with you, the reason for my original post was that the pub I  mentioned I waited near 15 minutes in 2015 on of all days Saturday afternoon ,yet the activity in the restaurant was beyond belief , staff to the right of me staff  to the left of me . Yet no-one covering the bar, needless to say I found somewhere else for my few pennies


Regards John
If voting made any difference , they wouldn't let us do it.
Mark Twain

robx52

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2017, 01:26:32 PM »
If your looking for an old fashioned pub,one with no food, no pool tables, no juke box, no tv Just hand pulled beers then try the Pup and Duckling Hatchford Brook Solihull.

countrylad

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2017, 05:56:20 PM »
I think they have a place , but not for me. I don't think I have ever spent a whole evening in one, where I would in an old boozer. I have called in for breakfast, especially if no good old fashioned cafe around.


I was in Brum a few weeks ago and called in what I would call an old fashioned cafe near Kings Norton. Good chat from the owners, customers, salt of the earth and good food at a reasonable price.


Worked in London until I retired and the pubs are the same there, and I suppose across the country. Me and one of the lads went for a pint one night after work and before we set off he said, 'Do you know any old 'South London boozers' where we can have a proper drink and a chat with a load of  old blokes (like us)?' So there must be a market for the old pubs but probably the concentration/density of customers are lacking.


   


 

Bronson

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Re: Whats' your opinion on So-called pubs Nowadays
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2017, 11:00:31 PM »
Not been in a pub for about 7 years now due to a diseased Liver. My problem was an autoimmune disease not drinking. However liquor licenses are given out in corn flakes boxes, this has caused many good pubs to close down.


 

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